Mehaffey leads as Leona closes gap

Leona Maguire surged to within two shots of Olivia Mehaffey before a double-bogey, bogey finish left the world number one five adrift of her international team-mate entering the final round of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in California.

After opening with a four-over 75 to trail Arizona State's Mehaffey by seven strokes, Leona came out with all guns blazing in the second round at the 6,017-yard, par 71 Palos Verdes Golf Club.

Starting on the back nine, she rolled in a four-foot birdie on the 12th, an 11-footer on the 13th and tapped in for birdie on the 453-yard, par-five 16th before making an impressive up-and-down for par on the 18th to turn in 33.

But after picking up two more birdies at the fifth and sixth, her double-bogey, bogey finish saw her card a two-under 69 that eventually left her tied for ninth on two-over 144.

She's five strokes behind Mehaffey, who followed her opening 68 (holing in one at the 200-yard second with a 19-degree rescue) with a level par 71 featuring four bogeys and four birdies to lead by a stroke on three-under 139 from Texas' Kaitlyn Papp (69 71) and UCLA's Patty Tavatanakit (71 69).

It was a still a big move for Leona, who jumped 30 spots on the leaderboard to joint ninth on two-under par.

Duke moved up to joint sixth behind new leaders Alabama with Lisa Maguire's 76 leaving her 42nd on eight-over.